1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Remote conference systems realize a state close to an actual conference by: acquiring images and audio in a conference room where participants of a remote conference are present by capturing the images of the participants and collecting sounds, such as remarks made by the participants; converting the acquired images and the acquired audio into digital data with a transmission terminal and transmitting the digital data to a transmission terminal of a destination; and causing a display, such as a video screen, to display the images and causing a speaker to output the audio in a conference room of the destination.
There has been developed a technology for holding a remote conference among multiple points with such a remote conference system. The technology holds a remote conference by connecting all the transmission terminals that participate in the conference to a relay apparatus and causing the relay apparatus to control distribution of image data and audio data to each of the transmission terminals.
There has also been developed a technology for displaying a list of prospective conference participants on a screen of a certain transmission terminal in a remote conference held among multiple points so as to allow a user using the certain transmission terminal to find who are participating in the conference with other transmission terminals during the conference. Japanese Patent No. 4696481, for example, discloses a technology for displaying positional information of point systems holding a conference in association with images (face images) of conference participants at respective points. Japanese Patent No. 4696481 further discloses a technology for displaying a face image of a user who has already participated in the conference by reading an image of a conference participant recorded in an integrated circuit (IC) card when the conference participant joins the conference and displaying only a name for a user who is not participating in the conference.
In the conventional technology, however, it is necessary to register participants in advance. Participation of an unregistered participant who is unexpected at the conference prevents the participants using other transmission terminals from grasping who the unregistered participant is because he/she is unregistered.
To grasp who is participating in the conference, the participants using the other transmission terminals need to perform an operation for asking a destination point who is participating in the conference, for example, by audio.